A school superintendent in Sussex County has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Lenape Valley Regional Board of Education, claiming his contract was not renewed because they want someone younger to fill his shoes.
Paul DiRupo, 64, claims in court papers the board’s president, Richard Kuncken, told him in December that his contract would not be renewed because the board was “going younger.” DiRupo is still listed as the district’s superintendent.
The comment was made following a board meeting in which the members voted not to renew DiRupo’s contract, according to the suit filed last month in Superior Court of Sussex County.
The lawsuit also claims Kuncken “continually harassed and treated (DiRupo) in a disparate” manner because he’s has multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system.
The lawsuit names the board of education, Kuncken and others.
DiRupo was hired in 2013 as superintendent of Lenape Valley Regional High School and has worked for the district in various capacities for 32 years, according to the suit.
The four-year public school district serves students in Stanhope and Byram Township in Sussex County and Netcong in Morris County. The high school is located in Stanhope.
DiRupo’s attorneys claim board members violated New Jersey’s laws against discrimination by terminating him and failing to renew his contract.
The five-count lawsuit seeks money for lost income, pension contributions, pain, suffering and humiliation.
Kuncken and board members did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The board’s attorney, John John B. Comegno II, said in an email on Monday that the “district does not comment on pending litigation.”
In 2019, the Lenape district agreed to pay a $55,000 settlement to a former assistant principal who claims DiRupo and another administrator mistreated him before he was fired in 2014.
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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.